Category: Card Challenges

I hope you love my card as much as I do! I knew I wanted choose ‘flowers’ for this Festive Friday Challenge but other than that, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I think the best thing to do is just to start with one or two things in mind and work my way from there when creating a card. I knew I needed a ‘Thank You’ sentiment and I knew I wanted to create a Daisy flower. I fell in love with the Delightful Daisy DSP and knew I had to have it along with the Daisy Delight Stamp Set and the Daisy Punch! Don’t you just LOVE these items?! If you do, make sure you order all three before the new Annual Catalog comes out at the beginning of June! I hope the stamp set and punch carries over into the new catalog but just in case, don’t miss out on these items if you think you may want them.

The “Thanks kindly” sentiment is from the One Big Meaning Stamp Set. It has seven different ‘Thank You’ sentiments, which is great! I also used the Petal Garden DSP Stack which is AWESOME! I absolutely love, love, love all the floral patterns in that 6 x 6 stack of papers. I actually used the backside one to get that little tid bit of stitched look peeping out from under the Delightful Daisy DSP. Can you see it?! Perhaps you will in the next close up image of the Daisy flower.

What really makes this Daisy flower come alive is the fact I used Stampin’ Up!’s NEW Stampin’ Blends! They are premier alcohol markers with dual-tips. Right now there are 12 exclusive Stampin’ Up! colors, each with a light and a dark shade as well as ivory, bronze, and a color lifter. LOVE ‘EM! I stamped the flower twice with the Calypso Coral Ink Pad so I could punch out two flowers. Then I colored my flowers in with the light Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blend. I went back over the inside of the petal leaves with the light Calypso Coral to give my petals a bit more depth. Then to top it off, I added that BEAUTIFUL Gold Faceted Gem in the center to really add beauty to my flower. Did I already tell you how much I LOVED my card?!

Price: $8.50

Price: $12.00

Price: $4.00

Price: $30.00

Price: $17.00

Price: $4.50

Stampin’ Up! News:

BTW the new Stampin’ Up! Stampin Blends have been so popular (debuted in the Occasion Catalog), that Stampin’ Up! had a difficult time maintaining an adequate supple of them due to some unexpected challenges from the supplier’s end. Instead of continually having them on backorder, Stampin’ Up! made a difficult decision to make our entire Stampin’ Blends product line unorderable at this time until approximately the end of May.

Please leave me a comment and tell me what you love best about my card. What product(s) do you love most? If you have any questions, please contact me! Until next time, have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

Easter is just around the corner so I needed to create a cute card for my granddaughter, Theä. She is four years old and loves receiving cards from her Grammie, which is me! I created a unique Easter card using the Panda Party Stamp Set from our Sale-A-Bration brochure. I knew what I had in mind with the Easter Egg in place of the balloon but I struggled with the rest. It takes me a while to create from my own imagination but that’s okay. I always like a challenge.

UPDATE!! I was chosen as one of three Festive Friday Faves in #FF0003 challenge!! WooHoo!!

Speaking of a challenge, check out Festive Friday Challenge to see not only my card but other cards as well! It’s a new challenge site for card makers such as myself. This Festive Friday Challenge is . . .

You too can make this card! I used the following: (Use retired stamp set Basket Bunch #143186 for the egg.)

If you have any questions, please contact me! Until next time, have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

No one ever really enjoys having to make one of these types of cards but one must when it’s needed. This will be a quick post and I know, it’s been a LONG TIME since I’ve posted anything here on my blog. I’m here now and ready to share a lovely card using the Sale-A-Bration Heartfelt Blooms Stamp Set. I hate to admit that I struggled at first because it’s been such long time since I’ve made a card(s) that I wasn’t sure how to go about what I had in my mind. Then a light bulb went off and I grabbed my ink daubers. That is how I managed to get the Crumb Cake and Night of Navy colors in my floral image. I also layered the 1/2″ Night of Navy Gingham Ribbon on top of the 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon for a layered and flat look. The top layer that I stamped the floral image onto is from Stampin’ Up!’s Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack. I totally love that stack of woodsy papers!

In addition to needing to make a sympathy card, I’m participating in a NEW card challenge called Festive Friday Challenge. Be sure to check it out and join in by participating!

Festive Friday Challenge #FF0002

If you love the Heartfelt Blooms (Wood Block #147197 Clear Mount #147202), you can get it for FREE with a $50 product purchase (before shipping/tax)! Sale-A-Bration ends March 31st so time is running out.

If you have any questions, please contact me! Until next time, have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! This is one of the cards I created to send to someone special! I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do but I knew I had to use the ANY OCCASION Stamp Set #143348 (SAB pg. 14) from the Sale-A-Bration Brochure! You, too, can get this stamp set FREE with a $50 product purchase (before taxes & shipping).

FYI, you can order from the Annual Catalog, Occasions Catalog, and even the Clearance Rack to be able to earn FREE items from the SAB Brochure! February Hostess Code R3G9W2V2

I used the retired Framelits called Hearts Collection for my two hearts. There is a stamp in this set that has the curved line but it wasn’t long enough so I used the top of a plastic round container to draw the line so it would fit from one side to the other in the heart. I used the retired embossing folder Adorning Accents at the bottom. I love those little hearts! I also used the retired stamp set P.S. I Love You for my sentiments. I love that set!

BTW, you can use the NEW Sweet & Sassy Framelits #141707 (AC pg.193) that has MANY hearts to do this same card! AND you can use the Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder #137364 (AC pg. 195) to have hearts embossed that will cover the entire card front! Also be sure to check out the Blooming’ Love Stamp Set #140643 (AC pg. 46) and Sealed with Love #142815 (OC pg. 15). Both of these stamp sets have sentiments that would work great with this layout! I included these new/current items in my Supply List below!

I’m HAPPY to say I actually entered into two card challenges today! Check these sites out for GREAT inspiration not to mention the many TALENTED Design Team Members!

Here is my first Valentine’s Card I made using Real Red card base. Then I decided to use Whisper White for my card base. I actually love both cards! I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop the heart up on both cards. I also use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp my sentiments. When using Wood Mount or Clear Mount, I recommend using this hand dandy tool! It’s a life saver and ensures I stamp sentiments exactly where they need to be placed on my card. Nothing worse than messing up and having to start over!

Price: $4.00

Price: $7.00

Price: $12.00

Price: $30.00

Price: $110.00

Price: $40.00

Remember:

When you purchase $50 in products (before shipping & tax), you EARN one FREE item from the SAB Brochure! If you purchase $100 in products (before shipping & tax) you earn TWO FREE items. If you purchase $150 in products (before shipping & tax) you earn THREE FREE items PLUS Stampin’ Rewards! You can order from the Annual Catalog, Occasions Catalog, and the Clearance Rack! During the Sale-A-Bration Promotion is definitely a GREAT time to get more bang for your buck! Check out all these items in the SAB Brochure!

Please use my February Hostess Code R3G9W2V2 when you place an order. See image below on where to input this month’s Hostess Code! Be sure to have your items shipped to your address!

Please be sure to subscribe to my blog for future updates, promotions, and to see more of my SWEET CREATIONS using Stampin’ Up! products! If you have any questions, please contact me! Until next time, have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

Happy birthday to my nephew, Travis! He is just one of three sons to my twin brother, Tony. Yes, I have a twin brother! It’s back to school on Monday for Travis so I LOVE these bright, cheery “Back to School” colors in The Paper Players Color Challenge! Check out the other great cards by the Design Team and other participates!

After I had made Travis’ card, I made another one but I didn’t use the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder. It’s very CAS (Clean and Simple). It just shows you how you can step up a card by adding something as simple as some textured embossing!

If you have any questions, please contact me! Until next time, have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

I created a birthday card for a card challenge which is a Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. I decided on the challenge using enamel dots, patterned paper, and die cut. Well . . . I didn’t have the right enamel dots so I substituted some gold sequins from my Paper Pumpkin Kit from June. I also entered my card in the SU-Only Challenge #154 – Delightful Dies challenge (I love that they ONLY allow Stampin’ Up! products!) I was able to use my new Bunch of Banners Framelits that just arrived yesterday! Love it!I went with Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake as I love that combination as the Mint Macaron just POPS against the Crumb Cake! My picture doesn’t do it justice but I hope you like it! (Just added a better photo!)

Here is a better photo . . . well, as better as I know how to get it! LOL!

If you have any questions or need help with anything, please feel free to contact me! Have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

Deer are WILD animals! I couldn’t resist this challenge. I used a RETIRED stamp set, Remembering Christmas from the 2014 Holiday Catalog! I love this stamp! We live on 100+ acres bumped up to the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. My huge expansion of a front yard serves as a refuge for the deer as I have a “No Porch Shooting” policy! I love watching them feel at home and safe especially when they have little ones! Several years ago you could see nearly a dozen bucks from upstairs off to one side of our place bedded down. I had never seen that many bucks together! It was really special. I hope you like my card!

If you REALLY like this stamp perhaps you might find one on eBay or I could search for one on your behalf. It’s called Remembering Christmas – Wood Mount #131760 & Clear Mount #131763 – It has a sentiment that says “Remembering you at Christmas and wishing you the best in the new year” to be stamped on the inside and a sentiment “Warm Wishes” for the front of the card. Both are in a beautiful cursive font. I just found this image to share with you!

I used the Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set to make the color. I did some tracing to fussy cut and fit it around the neck. I LOVE the way it turned out! The sweet little Merry Christmas sentiment is from The Petite Pairs Stamp Set which will NO LONGER be available when the NEW CATALOG goes live on June 1st! I truly love this stamp set and I hate to see it go!

Price: $110.00

Price: $30.00

Price: $10.00

Price: $7.00

Price: $4.00

Retiring stamp sets are available through the *end of May* but “everything else” is different . . . when they are gone they are gone! If you see an X in the Not Available column, that item is GONE! This list is continually updated as well! Check it out! *Retiring stamp sets will be manufactured through May 22. After that date, once a stamp set is gone . . . it’s gone!

If you have any questions or need help with anything, please feel free to contact me! Have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

I sure hope my mother-in-law, Cheryl, doesn’t see today’s post because this is her Mother’s Day card! My mother, Elsie Smart (she passed 12.24.2014 from Ovarian Cancer), would absolutely LOVE my card and I hope you will too! Last year I had a really hard time making a Mother’s Day card but this year was a bit easier. I still miss her terribly though! She was my best friend, my rock, . . . my mom! We talked each and every day about everything and about nothing! My mom was one of a kind!

Any who, I really didn’t know if I was going to like the end result of my card but I’m really happy with it. I LOVE trying to create a card from a sketch layout or color combination. The sketch layout is from Pals Paper Arts (PPA) by Ginger Toivonen. Ginger is one of PPA’s Design Team Members. Be sure to visit Pals Paper Arts and check out all the wonderful cards that are showcased! PPA is one of several of my favorite card challenge sites. I really appreciate all those involved in providing us with such a great card challenge site! Thank you PPA’s Design Team! Well on to my card and my take on the sketch . . .

I struggled about what to do in the middle of that bow placed on the wreath! I used the largest Metal Rimmed Pearl! Then I added some some small pearls to some of the flowers on the wreath and bit larger pearls on the flowers placed on the Scalloped Tag. LOVE IT! BTW, the Tangelo Twist Bakers Twine, I won and it’s not a current item. Sorry!

I had wondered about adding some flowers in Hello Honey on the Scalloped Tag. I decided not to since I had used Hello Honey as the mortar in the bricks. I LOVE the Brick Wall Embossing Folder! Don’t you?! This was my first time doing this technique using the Brayer to add the “mortar” look to the bricks. I just inked up my Brayer (retiring item!) and ran it over the side that says “Sizzix” on it. Then I laid my card panel down on the side without the ink and then I closed the embossing folder. I held it tight while I sandwiched it between the cutting pad and ran it through the Big Shot!

I LOVE my Big Shot! LOVEIT! If you don’t have one and would like to purchase one, talk to me first! Stampin’ Up! is releasing an updated Big Shot in the catalog! PLUS I can get you an additional item or two for FREE. i.e. Two embossing folders @ $7.50 each = $15.00. Curious? Contact me!

Price: $12.00

Price: $110.00

Price: $30.00

Price: $7.00

Price: $4.00

I wanted to use the SOON TO RETIRE In Colors 2014-2016 for my card. I am going to miss these colors! Especially Blackberry Bliss!

Retiring stamp sets are available through the *end of May* but “everything else” is different . . . when they are gone they are gone! If you see an X in the Not Available column, that item is GONE! This list is continually updated as well! Check it out! *Retiring stamp sets will be manufactured through May 22. After that date, once a stamp set is gone . . . it’s gone!

If you have any questions or need help with anything, please feel free to contact me! Have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

WOW! My Sweetheart and I have been married 30 YEARS TODAY! The odds were against us since we only knew each other for three weeks before getting married. I even turned him down the first time he asked me out! We met each other at a mutual friend’s apartment in our apartment complex in Houston, Bear Creek actually. It was a whirlwind after I finally said yes to having dinner with him! I don’t recommend getting married that quickly to someone but it has worked for us . . . and the rest is history! My Sweetheart is my best friend, my partner in life, the love of my life! I’d be lost without him!

Well on to my card, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to make a 30th Wedding Anniversary card. I did know my card needed to have the color green and pearls which signifies a 30th Wedding Anniversary. I really wanted to have some silver and the digits “30” on it but that didn’t happen. Sometimes I struggle when it comes to making cards and that is where layout sketches can really help! I loved this week’s sketch by Jen Timko over at Freshly Made Sketches! Here is my card . . .

Be sure to visit Freshly Made Sketches to check out all the wonderful cards! I don’t always participate with each new weekly layout sketch but it’s one of my FAVORITE card challenge sites! I really appreciate all those involved in providing us with such a great card challenge site! Thank you!

On another personal note I have to share what my Sweetheart bought me for our 30th Wedding Anniversary! HE DID GOOD!! I LOVE Pandora Charms and look what he gave me to add to my collection! Squueeeel! Love ’em! Love him!

I thought it would be fun to share two photos! This is us at the courthouse with 12 1/2 (baby involved) friends in attendance! I was 25 and he was 24 at the time. It was such a fun, happy day for us because we were crazy in love!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about how I’ve been married to my Sweetheart for 30 years! We have one beautiful daughter, Tenaya, that is a blessing from God! I was told I wouldn’t be able to have children. She is now married with her own little blessing, Theä Sage who is 2 yrs old. We are so very blessed!

Price: $4.00

PAPER SIZES:

Mossy Meadow card base: 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″

Whisper White panel: 5-1/8″ x 3-7/8″

Mossy Meadow sentiment label: 2-3/4″ x 7/8″

Whisper White sentiment label: 2-1/2″ x 1/2″

Sometimes I don’t add certain things to my supply list because it’s just a given that I use certain products when I create a card. I can’t tell you how much I LOVE my Stampin’ Trimmer! I had a different brand for many years and continued using it even after it had broken while awaiting the release Stampin’ Up!’s new Stampin’ Trimmer. I’ve been using this since it was available . . . perhaps two years ago or so now. You can’t go wrong with this trimmer!

If you haven’t use the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, you are totally missing out! I attended a card club for a couple of years and NEVER was exposed to this product! This product should’ve been introduced from the get go as many of us would voice our disappointment when we would stamp our sentiment and it would be crooked! This is back when SU only offered Wood Mount stamp sets. I LOVE my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig!

If you have any questions or need help with anything, please feel free to contact me! Have a Beautiful & Blessed Day!

This will be a really quick post due to a tragic loss in my husband’s family! I had meant to upload this yesterday and call it THROW BACK THURSDAY as I used retired items. We received tragic news of the loss of a loved yesterday and I just realized that I needed to get my card posted and uploaded to Freshly Made Sketches before being with Roy’s family for several days.

I love Cindy Hall’s sketch not to mention her beautiful card that she created! You really need to check her card out along with the other talented designers over at FMS! See the link below!

I made this cute Easter card for my one and only granddaughter, Theä Sage. She is a little over two years old and our pride and joy! I hope she loves the little bunnies!